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41 Furniture Leaders Support High Point Market Funding
April 1,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on April 2, 2013
Forty-one presidents and CEOs of the most recognizable companies in the furniture industry are battling proposed cuts in state funding for the High Point Market Authority.
A coalition of furniture leaders sent a letter Monday to North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger calling for full funding of the Market Authority. New N.C. Governor Pat McCrory's proposed budget would cut the state's contribution to the organization, which is responsible for organizing and running the April and October High Point Furniture Markets, by 52 percent next year.
In the letter, the furniture coalition asked for the state to provide $2 million in funding for the HPMA--$1.2 million in transportation funds and $806,478 in marketing funds. Roughly one-third of the HPMAs budget comes from state funds. Another third is raised through a 15 cent per square foot self-imposed showroom tax that the 2.200 exhibitors and 100 High Point showrooms pay on 11 million-plus-square-feet of showroom space. The final third is raised through local governmental bodies, with the City of High Points annual contribution of $1 million making up the lions share.
We have a wonderful public-private partnership, with the local government, private enterprise and the State of North Carolina all contributing a fair share of our budget, said Doug Bassett, the President of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. and the volunteer chairman of the High Point Market Authority.
In 2011 and 2012, the state of North Carolina contributed between $1.6 million and $1.7 million in funding for the HPMA. McCrorys state budget released last month proposed cutting that funding by more than half by 2014, to $800,000. The state would zero out funding for the HPMA after 2014.
The leaders of the furniture industry believe this partnership is working beautifully and is a key reason that the High Point Market has been able to maintain its status as the most important furniture market in the world, Bassett said. We believe it would be a mistake for the state to end such a successful partnership with the furniture industry and with the Market. After all, the Markets economic impact is $1.2 billion and the furniture industrys impact on the NC economy is over $8 billion.
"We are very fortunate that we have many advocates in the legislature who are strong supporters of the HPMAs funding. Both Speaker Tillis and President Pro Tempore Berger have been strong supporters of both the furniture industry and of the Market. Based on our conversations with them and with dozens of other legislators, we are hopeful that the budgets they develop in the legislature will extend the successful partnership that we have cultivated with the State."
The letter points out that High Point Market generates roughly $40 million in tax receipts versus the states $2 million investment, or a 20-fold return on its investment.
This return is directly related to the 80,000 visitors that the furniture market attracts to North Carolina for up to one week, twice each year, the letter notes.
The leaders of many of the furniture industrys most powerful and famous companies signed on to the letter, including the CEOs of Bernhardt, Century, La-Z-Boy (which includes the American Drew, Lea and Kincaid brands), Furniture Brands International (which includes the Broyhill, Drexel Heritage, Thomasville and Lane brands), Bassett, Hooker, Samson Marketing (which includes the Legacy Classic, Craftmaster and Universal brands), Stanley, United, Vaughan-Bassett and Vanguard.
The 41 companies and brands represented on the letter lease more 1.5 million square feet of showroom space in High Point and directly employ more than 9,000 people in North Carolina. These companies create thousands of additional jobs in North Carolina indirectly through their suppliers and through the significant economic activity these companies generate at High Point Market.
All five of the chairmen in HPMAs 12-year history signed the industry support letter: Vaughan-Bassett Furniture President Doug Bassett, Samson Marketing CEO Kevin OConnor, Vanguard CEO John Bray, Hooker Furniture CEO Paul Toms and La-Z-Boy Casegoods President Steve Kincaid.
The furniture industry leaders make clear that the success of the High Point Market has in turn made North Carolina furnitures epicenter. In their letter, they point out that as the economy and the housing market improves, a vibrant High Point Market increases the chances that new furniture industry jobs will be created in our State, and not elsewhere.
Over the last 30 years, once vibrant furniture shows in San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago have all closed their doors, so the future success of the High Point Market is not guaranteed. The state legislature is expected to develop its budget over the next sixty to ninety days.